Chapter 71 - They Were Gone

'You two must be really good friends,' Adrian said, observing Xavier's face to see if there were any changes the minute he learnt of what he had to tell him. 

Xavier scrunched his nose.

'Huh?'

'Really good friends?'

'Are you serious? That was all you got from the entire conversation between Emilio and I?' 

Adrian shook his head, 'Of course not.'

'Obviously, you're returning him to his cave. If Madeline pleases, she could always visit him and it's a win-win situation. Emilio gets to live, Madeline gets to know the man that's her biological father better and the ex-alpha gets what he deserves.' 

'There are a few kinks we need to work out but…'

Adrian shrugged. 

'Hmm, great idea,' Xavier commented.

"You two done talking now?" Emilio asked. 

Albeit he was unable to know what they were discussing, he knew it had something to do with Madeline.

'I keep forgetting he's my daughter's mate,' he muttered to himself.

'What was that phrase?' He asked himself. 

'Break her heart and I'll break yours? Hmm.' 

'I should really tell Xavier that,' Emilio thought, sighing.

It was pointless, wasn't it?

Now, when he found himself a reason to stay, there was another reason to leave.

The pack wouldn't react kindly to seeing Emilio on their grounds. 

Of course, neither had Xavier or Adrian 'reacted kindly', but for the most part, they kept their true and real opinions to themselves.

Xavier… His ruthlessly efficient beta turned alpha of the pack that used to be his.

Was he happy Xavier was now alpha? No. 

Not because he thought Xavier was unworthy, but simply because Xavier had stolen his life from him. 

Yes, to Emilio, Xavier was the big bad one. All his life, Emilio was raised to rule Eudora. To take over as alpha after he defeated his predecessor in a duel and got his advancement from beta to alpha. 

Like everyone else, he started as an omega, but he rose through the ranks quickly. In no time at all, he was the alpha, with Xavier by his side as his chosen beta.

Whilst Xavier had his side to his story, so did Emilio. 

Xavier was the righteous one, he was the one constantly in the wrong. No matter what he did, he was never right. Xavier was the one that was favored, he was the one that other wolves respected and placed on a pedestal although it was to be noted that there was no excuse for what he did to the innocent. 

Emilio let out another deep sigh. 

'What's the point of all this? No one's going to let me get to know my daughter more, and I'm going to have to return to that damned cave I was trapped in for centuries.' 

That cave was practically hell for him. There was nothing and no one there. 

Dying was a far better fate than being stuck somewhere he couldn't thrive in. Why would anyone willingly subject themselves to that sort of torture?

Everyone had a different example of purgatory and Emilio's meaning of purgatory was obviously that cave. 

Although that was one of the last questions that remained in his head. 

There was one that he couldn't help but continuously wonder, how was Madeline conceived in the first place? 

He hadn't seen Cornelia in… centuries if he recalled correctly. 

So how was it possible that Madeline was here? How she existed?

He knew Cornelia had something to do with it. 

Perhaps this was her way of bidding him goodbye one last time, or perhaps this had all happened per chance. By accident. 

'Cornelia, where are you?' Emilio asked himself. 

It felt like he was back… Back at the day he and Xavier dueled.

Rain poured in the background, and thunder boomed in the sky. 

Drenched and soaking wet, Emilio showed that he was as much of a man to admit defeat, but still beg for mercy. 

It proved how desperate he was to survive. That way, he could find a way to get his place back as alpha. Well, that plan proved to be a bust. Centuries later, he was still the ex-alpha, and nothing had changed.

That day, he had also wondered where Cornelia was. She hadn't witnessed the duel, she hadn't bid him goodbye, she had disappeared. 

The last he saw of her was before he dueled Xavier and lost. It was as though… 

She knew it was going to happen. 

That must've been why she was against him dueling Xavier. That, or her lack of faith in him. 

No, that was unlikely. She was the supreme sorceress, she was practically omnipotent. There wasn't anything she didn't know. 

Heck, she probably knew he had escaped from his cave, and then he finally got to meet his daughter. 

'I'm straying away from what's really important here,' Emilio said to himself. 

He knew how pretentious he sounded. It was as though he was using Madeline to stay. 

When in reality… 

'I have a daughter now,' Emilio said to himself for what seemed like the millionth time for this day alone. 

That one fact made him rethink everything. And to put it in comparison… All his time he spent in that cave, he never once regretted his actions. 

The minute the results were shown, Emilio was guilt-stricken. His heart felt like it had been cracked into two, and he wondered what it was like had he watched his daughter grow up, and what would life be like if his wrongdoings hadn't gotten him trapped in that cave. 

He was never involved in deciding whether or not Madeline was to be given away. Never did he have a say. Never did he have a chance to meet his daughter when she entered this world. 

He wasn't even the second person to have seen her. 

She had lived decades without knowing who her parents were, and who she really was.

How could he not feel the slightest bit of regret? 

And now he understood what it felt like when he had done all those horrid things to those who had done something to tick him off. 

Now he realized the pain and suffering he had caused, and one of the worst things was that he couldn't make amends with them.

They were gone, and he had gone too far.